SCENIC BLAST CAPS OUTSTANDING SEASON WITH MAJOR AWARD

WEST Australian Sprinting sensation Scenic Blast was crowned the 2008/09 Australian Racehorse of the Year presented by Luxbet.com at Palladium at Crown tonight, and picked up another two awards to dominate the event.

Scenic Blast earned 55% of the overall votes to cap an outstanding season of racing. The Danny Morton-trained five-year-old won four of his eight starts including the Flemington sprint double, the $500,000 Group 1 Coolmore Lightning Stakes (1000m) and the $1 million Group 1 Crown Newmarket Handicap (1200m) during the Melbourne Festival of Racing.

Scenic Blast’s Newmarket Handicap win also earned him a rating of 122 placing him alongside Weekend Hussler as the highest ranked horse in Australia and New Zealand for the season.

The champion gelding went on to represent Australia with distinction at Royal Ascot in the United Kingdom in June, blitzing his foreign rivals in the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes. His Lightning Stakes and King’s Stand Stakes wins placed him on top of the Global Sprint Challenge leader board, 17 points ahead of his closest competitor Fleeting Spirit.

In a memorable night for connections Scenic Blast was also named the IRT Champion Australian-Trained International and Inglis Bloodstock Champion Sprinter.

2008 Emirates Melbourne Cup winner Viewed was named New Zealand Thoroughbred Marketing Champion Stayer, while Phelan Ready capped an emotional year for the McLachlan family winning the Yallambee Stud Champion Two Year Old Award after the passing of his trainer, legendary Queensland mentor Bruce McLachlan, during the season.

The other highlight of the evening was the elevation of one of Australia’s greatest ever jockeys Arthur ‘Scobie’ Breasley to 1300 Australia Racing Hall of Fame Legend as voted on by the public. Breasley joins inaugural Hall of Fame Legend Phar Lap and Cups King Bart Cummings.

Seven racing icons were also officially inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame:

Crown Metropol Hall of Fame Jockeys – Jim Johnson and Harold Badger

Tyrrell’s Wines Hall of Fame Trainers - Bayly Payten and Jack Green

Commotion Creative Hall of Fame Horses - Strawberry Road and Comic Court

Fineline Hall of Fame Associate - Bill Whittaker

The full list of Australian Racehorse of the Year category award winners is:

RACING VICTORIA MEDIA RELEASE

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